Broadchurch praying for TV Bafta success

David Tennant as Alec Hardy in Broadchurch with Olivia Colman, who is up for best actress for her role as Ellie Miller. Picture: Patrick Redmond

The nominations, announced yesterday, also see Scottish actress Shirley Henderson, who appeared alongside James McAvoy in Filth last year, nominated for best supporting actress for her role in Southcliffe.

Channel 4’s crime drama Southcliffe, set in a community devastated by a spate of shootings, leads the race for awards with four nominations, alongside the station’s hit comedy The IT Crowd.

Olivia Coleman is in the running for best actress for her role in Broadchurch, which was also shortlisted for best drama, although Tennant, a former Doctor Who, lost out in the leading actor category.

However the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special The Day of the Doctor, which Tennant starred in alongside Matt Smith and John Hurt, is up for the prestigious audience award, along with Broadchurch. Other contenders include Breaking Bad, Educating Yorkshire, Gogglebox and The Great British Bake-Off.

The one-off Dr Who drama, An Adventure In Space and Time – on how the show was brought to the screen, which starred Scottish actor Brian Cox as the BBC executive who commissioned the series – is in the running for best single drama.

Dominic West and Helena Bonham Carter are up for best actor and actress awards for the portrayal of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in BBC Four’s biopic on the A-list pair’s chaotic love life, Burton and Taylor.

West will be up against Sean Harris, for his role in Southcliffe, as well as Jamie Dornan for his serial killer role in The Fall and Luke Newberry’s teenage zombie in supernatural series In The Flesh.

Also nominated in the best actress category are Kerrie Hayes for The Mill, a period drama based on the real-life stories of textile workers, and Maxine Peake for The Village, the BBC’s long-running drama set in Derbyshire throughout the 20th century.

Sarah Lancashire and Nicola Walker will go head-to-head in the Supporting Actress category for romantic drama Last Tango in Halifax, for their roles as the daughters of pensioner lovers Alan and Celia.

Danish drama Borgen, the hit show about the first female prime minister of Denmark, cult American crime drama Breaking Bad and Kevin Spacey’s groundbreaking Netflix sensation House of Cards, an adaptation of the famous BBC political thriller series, will battle it out in the international category. The Fall, In The Flesh and Southcliffe will be competing for the best mini-series honour, along with The Great Train Robbery, which told the story of the infamous episode in two parts – one from the perspective of the robbers and the other from the police.

The three stars of The IT Crowd – Katherine Parkinson, Richard Ayoade and Chris O’Dowd – have all won nominations in the comedy categories, while the show itself is in the best sitcom category, with Count Arthur Strong, Him & Her: The Wedding and The Toast of London.

Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway and The Graham Norton Show are among the contenders in the main entertainment categories. The winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on 18 May, with Graham Norton as host.

NOMINATIONS

• Leading Actor: Jamie Dornan - The Fall; Sean Harris - Southcliffe; Luke Newberry - In The Flesh; Dominic West - Burton And Taylor

• Leading Actress: Helena Bonham Carter - Burton And Taylor; Olivia Colman - Broadchurch; Kerrie Hayes - The Mill; Maxine Peake - The Village

• Supporting Actor: David Bradley - Broadchurch; Jerome Flynn - Ripper Street; Nico Mirallegro - The Village; Rory Kinnear - Southcliffe

• Supporting Actress: Shirley Henderson - Southcliffe; Sarah Lancashire - Last Tango In Halifax; Claire Rushbrook - My Mad Fat Diary; Nicola Walker - Last Tango In Halifax

• Entertainment Performance: Ant and Dec - Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway; Charlie Brooker - 10 O’Clock Live; Sarah Millican - The Sarah Millican Television Programme; Graham Norton - The Graham Norton Show

• Female Performance in a Comedy Programme: Frances de la Tour - Vicious; Kerry Howard - Him And Her: The Wedding; Doon Mackichan - Plebs; Katherine Parkinson - The IT Crowd

• Male Performance in a Comedy Programme: Richard Ayoade - The IT Crowd; Mathew Baynton - The Wrong Mans; James Corden - The Wrong Mans; Chris O’Dowd - The IT Crowd

• Single Drama: An Adventure In Space And Time; Black Mirror: Be Right Back; Complicit; The Wipers Times

• Mini-Series: The Fall; The Great Train Robbery; In The Flesh; Southcliffe

• Drama Series: Broadchurch; My Mad Fat Diary; Top Of The Lake; The Village

• Soap and Continuing Drama: Casualty; Coronation Street; EastEnders; Holby City

• International: Borgen; Breaking Bad; House Of Cards; The Returned

• Entertainment Programme: Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway; Derren Brown: The Great Art Robbery; Dynamo: Magician Impossible; Strictly Come Dancing

• Comedy and Comedy Entertainment Programme: The Graham Norton Show; A League Of Their Own; The Revolution Will Be Televised; Would I Lie To You?

• Situation Comedy: Count Arthur Strong; Him And Her: The Wedding; The IT Crowd; Toast Of London

• Radio Times Audience Award: Breaking Bad; Broadchurch; Doctor Who: Day Of The Doctor; Educating Yorkshire; Gogglebox; The Great British Bake Off